This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) video game showcase has been cancelled for 2023, according to the Entertainment Software Association and show organizer ReedPop.
Why it matters: An in-person E3 has not been held in since 2019. This year's event, scheduled to take place in early June in Los Angeles, was to mark a return of the conference, once central to the gaming world.
Undeterred by U.S. government threats of a ban, TikTok executives are angling the popular social media app as an essential part of the video game industry’s future.
Driving the news: TikTok’s top gaming executives took their pitch directly to game makers at last week’s Game Developers Conference, including a promotional panel held hours after the company’s CEO was grilled by Congress over privacy and security concerns.
A bestselling fantasy author has moved some of his recent projects off Audible, Amazon's industry-dominating audiobook platform, because, he charges, "they treat authors very poorly."
What's happening: Brandon Sanderson — an industry heavyweight with 15 New York Times bestsellers, including multiple #1 spots — is the first author of his stature to publicly challenge Audible. His book “Oathbringer” was the most pre-ordered book of all time on that service.
An open letter calling for a six-month "pause" in work on advanced artificial intelligence is dividing the tech industry — not just between AI boosters and skeptics, but also between different factions of AI's critics.
Driving the news: The letter — initially signed by Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and other industry luminaries — urged "a stepping back from the dangerous race to ever-larger unpredictable black-box models with emergent capabilities."
The State Department is granting $25 million to the Costa Rican government to help with recovery from a series of brutal ransomware attacks last year, according to a senior administration official.
Why it matters: The new funding sets a precedent that the Biden administration will send aide to allies when faced with cyberattacks from foreign adversaries.
Dozens of scientists, experts and tech leaders, including Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, recently signed a letter calling on labs generating artificial intelligence (AI) to slow down production so potential risks can be studied —and researched.
Why it matters: AI programs like ChatGPT and GPT-4 have come a long way in capturing public interest, but they still have trouble convincing tech's biggest leaders that society is ready for them.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chair of the House China select committee, told Axios that Beijing views artificial intelligence as an "instrument or weapon with which to perfect its Orwellian techno-totalitarian surveillance state."
Why it matters: The speed of recent developments in AI has caused alarm among some policymakers and tech leaders. Gallagher said his "primary concern" is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will use the technology to "perfect" and "export" its authoritarian model beyond its borders.
Driving the news: In a recent stock-option offering to employees, Musk reportedly valued the company at $20 billion — less than half the full $44 billion price tag for his acquisition.
The first commercially available human-shaped robots designed for warehouse work were unveiled last week by a company called Agility Robotics, for delivery in 2025.
Details: Digit, which is built to work alongside humans, can lift and move plastic bins in a warehouse or distribution center.
A shortage of truck drivers and skilled machine operators is inspiring the development of autonomous vehicles for use in construction, farming, heavy industry and even freight rail.
Why it matters: Off-road autonomy is every bit as revolutionary as self-driving cars, helping to reduce costs and improve productivity for a variety of industries.
Arkansas officials filed lawsuits against Meta and TikTok under the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act on Tuesday in a move they said was designed to protect children.
The big picture: The two lawsuits against TikTok and parent company ByteDance and a third against Meta come at a time of heightened scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers.
The big picture: The game at San Diego State University will be part of Wrexham's first-ever U.S. tour, kicking off in Cary, North Carolina. The Welsh soccer club, one of the oldest in the world, found new fame when actors Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the team in 2020.
